Letters

I was dismayed to learn that the Town of Southampton advanced its lawsuit against the Shinnecock Nation’s tribal leaders last week by seeking a preliminary injunction stopping construction of a gas plaza on the Westwoods property.

To me, the filing of the motion was ill-advised, serving only to fuel animosity and distrust between the nation and the town.

Procedurally, the lawsuit was at a standstill before this latest filing. The nation owed an answer to the town’s complaint, but the due date of its answer easily could have been extended by agreement to give the parties time to discuss the ground rules for the litigation and explore a resolution of the issues.

Unfortunately, by filing its motion, the town has forced the nation into active litigation, which is costly and time-consuming, and pushes the parties further apart rather than closer together.

I am a civil litigator with over 20 years of experience trying complex cases, including ones between parties like we find here: neighbors who will have to live next door to each other and rely on each other in perpetuity. In my experience, surprise tactics, such as those we saw this week, rarely bring the parties closer together, work only to drive a wedge of anger and suspicion between them, and make the job of reaching a pragmatic solution that much harder.

Additionally, I am not seeing the need to hurriedly enlarge the litigation at a time when cold temperatures and frozen winter ground hamper construction.

A better course of action, assuming the motion was necessary, would have been to give notice to the nation that a request for preliminary injunction would be filed on a certain date, and then spend every waking moment until that time trying to find a solution that is sensitive to the nation’s significant land claims but ensures that the town’s equally significant land use concerns, such as the understandable fear that the nation will expand its development efforts to a conference center and/or casino, are adequately addressed.

It is undeniable that the town’s officials need to make the resolution of this litigation a personal priority. It should not be something left solely to the town’s outside attorneys. The parties should meet as much and as often as possible in the hopes of reaching an understanding as to the nation’s ownership of the Westwoods property.

Even if no such agreement is forthcoming, at the very least the town and nation should find a path forward for the construction of the gas plaza while preserving the parties’ respective positions as to the remainder of the Westwoods property.

John J. Leonard

Hampton Bays

Leonard is a Democratic candidate for the vacant Town Council seat in the upcoming special election — Ed.